182 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



Vol. hi. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Dialogue Ijetwcen a Fatlicr and Soii« 



AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY. 



Frank. I have been readinsj tlie history 

 of the Island of Jersey. That must be a 

 beautiful spot, and if the observation be cor- 

 rect, that high rents make g-ood farmers, they 

 must be first Tate, that's certain : $ 2.") an 

 acre rent, must make pood mannorers too — 

 their Husbandry must be equal to their 

 Agriculture. 



Father. I am plnd to find that you have 

 not forjrotten the definition of the terms, Ajjri- 

 culture and Husbandry. 



Frank. I should be sorry if I did not re- 

 member, that Aixriculture istheart of raisinfr 

 crops; Husbandry, the art of preserving and 

 expending them. 



Father. Very well : and now for some 

 account of both, as they are practised in that 

 School 0^ Industry, as it might very proper- 

 ly be termed. My observations are the re- 

 sult of five years residence, during- which I 

 had the happiness of enjoying friendly com- 

 munication with many of the first agricultur- 

 ists in the island. 



Frank. T have heard that many of their 

 farms are not more than a few acres, and 

 sometimes consist of one field only : how do 

 they contrive to obtain the means of exist- 

 ence from so small a quantity of land? 



Father. Generally speaking, by selling 

 their produce and living upon the refuse. 

 They eat very little animal food, a standing 

 dish with the poorer sort, being cabbage 

 leaves cut small, and boiled in water; and 

 when done enough, hog's lard is added, and it 

 is then eaten with bread made of barley and 

 wheat flour. All their farms are small ; my 

 first introduction was to the largest farmer 

 in a whole parish, who occupied thirtj'-six 

 acres only ; he did not conceive that any man 

 could possibly mannge more ; and when mv 

 friend told him I had known farms of 1000 

 acres, he replied, "Oh, he mistakes, he 

 means 100 !" As you say, many of their 

 farms consist of one field only, yet upon this, 

 they contrive to raise almost all the different 

 crops; first a strip of wheat, another of bar- 

 ley, and another of oats; always one of pars- 

 neps and the English bran, mixed : then 

 their indispensable potaloe crop, with beans 

 planted at wide intervals; a strip of clover, 

 or hay for their next years wheat tilth, and 

 present keep of the cow, and sometimes a 

 small patch of Lucerne. Their gardens yield 

 them vegetables, amongst which is the .Jer- 

 sey kail, which grows to the height of eight 

 or ten feet, throwing out broad leaves, which 

 they strip during the whole summer, and 

 these are fed to the cow, to the pigs, to the 

 weaning calf, and to themselves, indiscrimi- 

 nately ; the quantity of food which they 



yield is truly astonishing, and it is peculiar 

 to them to flourish about as well under the 

 shade of trees as in the open ground — a for- 

 tunate circumstance, as the whole island 

 might ahnost be considered one vast apple 

 orchard, from which an incredible quantity 

 of cider is made for exportation. 



A great part of their wheat is sold at the 

 market, in measures called cabots, contain- 

 ing about half a bushel each; and they have 

 a very simple way of separating tlie finest 

 portion of the crop for this purpose, which is, 

 by taking every little sheaf, and giving it a 

 few strokes on a barrel lying on its side; 

 these sheaves are then laid by, to be clean 

 threshed by the flail at some future time, and 

 this is alwaj's done by lamp light, during the 

 winter evenings! This inferior wheat, mixed 

 with barley, furnishes their own bread. The 

 beans and oats are ground together, and fed 

 to their fatting hogs ; they are at first fed 

 with parsneps in their raw state, afterwards 

 these are boiled and mixed with bran, and 

 then comes the finish of oats and beans. 

 Their pork is generally sold at the market, 

 the head, feet, entrails and lard, being kept 

 for home consumption. Their potatoes sup- 

 ply them with a great portion of their food, 

 as also the cow, pigs and poultry ; but the 

 chief part of these are sold for exportation, to 

 the Erazils, as well as to England, as they 

 are noted for their excellence. 



But what they most value themselves 

 upon is, the management of the milch cow ; 

 she is the darling of the fumily, and no won- 

 der, for upon her they seem to depend for 

 life and breath and all things, and if ever the 

 Jersey men become idolaters, they will as- 

 suredly worship the milch cow. 



Frank. I have heard tiiat those little 

 cows which are called Alderneys, are brought 

 from the island of Jersry, and that none are 

 allowed to be exported without a printed cer- 

 tificate, describing age and color, by whom 

 bred, and to whom sold, and that all this is 

 attested before a magistrate, who signs the 

 document. 



Father. All this is true ; and by these 

 means they have preserved the breed pure 

 and immixed, a matter of great consequence 

 to thcni : it is hardly credible what a great 

 number of these cows are exported to Eng- 

 land every year, where, if they are very 

 handsome, they bring great prices. They are 

 a most valuable breed for the dairy, and as- 

 tonishing accounts of their produce of butter 

 is well atiested — two, on high keep, in the 

 neighborhood of London, gave nineteen 

 pounds of butter each per week ! Every 

 tiirmer therefore, rears a heifer every year 

 for the Englis!) market, and liiis system 

 alone, has been the means of raising a fortune 

 to many a poor man in that place where, if a 



